Milton Cato

Robert Milton Cato ( born June 3, 1915 in St. Vincent, † February 10, 1997 in Kingstown, St. Vincent ) was a politician from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Biography

During the Second World War he joined the Royal Canadian Army and served as a soldier in Europe. Upon his return to St. Vincent, he began to get involved in local politics. In 1955 he was one of the founders of the St. Vincent Labour Party ( SVLP ) and served as their representatives 1958-1962 Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the West Indies Federation. He later became chairman of the SVLP.

In May 1967, he was appointed as successor of Ebenezer Theodore Joshua Chief Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. After this was one Associated State within the Commonwealth of Nations on 27 October 1969, he remained as premier neither head of government. In April 1972, the SVLP lost the election against a party alliance of the New Democratic Party (NDP ) under James Fitz -Allen Mitchell, who was then Prime Minister.

In December 1974, the SVLP succeeded in the early general elections a victory against the NDP, so that Cato was again Premier on 8 December 1974. Although guided by him coalition fell apart in 1976, Cato continued to officiate as Premier because the SVLP still had a majority in the Legislative Assembly.

After the country's sovereignty on October 27, 1979 Cato 's first Prime Minister, and as such at the December 5, 1979 conducted on the basis of the new constitution elections to the Legislative Assembly ( House of Assembly ) was confirmed. Cato was at that time one of the last prime minister of the Caribbean, who was already at the time of the West Indies Federation politically active. Although he was politically a socialist, he let modern regional interpretations of socialism not, but explained his views exclusively on Marxism- Leninism. However, both publicly and privately, he was later a strong critic of the revolution in Grenada under Maurice Bishop and the developments in Jamaica under Michael Manley and Guyana under Forbes Burnham. Instead, he preferred the creation of closer relations with the relatively conservative governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados in the economy. In particular, through the establishment of a joint Coast Guard and a fisheries protection existed good relations with Barbados.

After the SVLP lost the elections in 1984, Cato was replaced as Prime Minister by James Mitchell on 30 July 1984.